seas and sprays do pass over the parapet-wall in very stormy weather, but not with such violence as to occasion material inconvenience to the inhabitants of the Tour de Corduan.' In about the fifty-seventh degree of north latitude, the Cattegat conducts us into the Baltic, which, after increasing in width, and stretching towards the north-east through about five degrees of latitude, separates into two branches; the Gulf of Finland, stretching eastwards and terminating near St. Petersburg, about the thirtieth degree of east longitude; and the Gulf of Bothnia, running northward beyond the sixty-sixth parallel. The length of this sea, therefore, exceeds 600 miles, while its breadth varies from about eighty to 150 miles, and the surface has been computed at 10,000 square leagues. See BALTIC. The Baltic is generally frozen annually for three months, so as not only to prevent navigation, but frequently to admit of a passage over the ice, from Sweden to Finland. When Mr. James crossed from one coast to the other in February, 1814, he describes his road as 'an undeviating line from place to place, no obstacle presenting itself; we passed over the fields, through the woods, across the ice; hill and dale, land and water, were all alike: sometimes we traversed the rocky channel of a deep-bedded river, at other times wandered among the inlets of a lake, at others again steered our way between the islands, over the sea.' In the southern part the ice usually breaks up in April; but the Gulfs of Bothnia and Finland seldom clear before May is advanced. Fall of Surface A controversy took place among the natural philosophers of the north of Europe, about the middle of the last century, respecting the alleged gradual lowering of the level of the sea in general, and of the Baltic Sea in particular. Celsius was the first who introduced this idea to notice. He generalised it, by applying it to all the planets, and was supported by the authority of the cele brated Linné. It was soon perceived, that the point could never be settled by mere discussion, and that facts alone could lead to any certain result. Observation was therefore had recourse to; and the results of investigations, undertaken for this purpose, are now beginning to be collected in that part of the world. In the course of 1820, and 1821, Mr. Bruncrona, assisted by the officers of the pilotage establishment, and other qualified persons, undertook the examination of all the authentic measures that had been established upon the west coast of the Baltic during the last half century. The results of this examination are given in a short but very interesting memoir inserted in the Swedish Transactions for 1823. The following table indicates the degree to which the level of this sea has fallen during the last forty years, on the coast of Sweden, at various latitudes. It is proper to remark that, in some of the places observed, the measures were much older, and in some others much more recent, than the period of forty years. In both cases the change of level that must have been effected, during this period, has been estimated by calculating the mean annual depression furnished by the observations in feet. 1. It is generally believed, among the pilots of the Baltic, that the sea has become shallower along the course which vessels ordinarily follow; but it is added, that this alteration is more sensible in the places where the tide collects sand, detached pebbles, and sea-weed, than in those where the bottom is composed of rocks. The same observation has been made in the neighbourhood of some large towns and fisheries; for example, a hydrographic chart, made in 1771, gives six fathoms for the mean depth of the sea opposite the harbour of Landskrona, whereas, in 1817, the sounding line scarcely gave five fathoms at the same point. 2. According to the oldest and most experienced pilots, the straits, which separate the numerous islets scattered along the coast of Sweden, from Haarparanda to the frontiers of Norway, received vessels that drew ten feet of water; now they are not practicable for boats that draw more than two or three feet. 3. The pilots further affirm, that, along the whole coast of Bothnia, the depth of the water undergoes a diminution, which becomes sensible every ten years, in certain places where the bottom is composed of rocks. Several other parts of the Baltic may be cited, in which a similar change has been remarked. Mr. C. P. Hallstrom, in an Appendix to Mr. Bruncrona's Memoir, gives the following table of the diminution observed in the depth of the waters of the Gulf of Bothnia. It is not demonstrated that the numbers of the last column represent exactly the lowering of the water in a century; for it has not yet been sufficiently determined, if this lowering be uniform, or if it vary at different periods, and if it depend upon some local circumstance, upon the climate, or upon the state of the atmosphere. Nor is it properly established that this lowering, which becomes less perceptible from the north of the Baltic, until it disappears entirely at the southern extremity, follows precisely the same law of diminution as the latitude. It appears to be uniform in the whole extent of the Gulf of Bothnia, and it rises about four feet and a quarter in that region. At Calmar, (lat. 57° 50′) it is only two feet, but it is not yet known whether it decreases in a regular manner between these two places. Some authors consider the facts related by Messrs. Bruncrona and Hallstrom, as deciding the question in favor of those who believe in a lowering, of the level of the Baltic. The north of Europe, is encompassed by the North Sea, or Arctic Ocean, a storehouse of incalculable masses of ice: yet, hence proceed with great general regularity the innumerable shoals of fish, particularly herrings, which arrive continually on the British shores in April and May. Their progress is marked by a rippling and peculiar brightness of the water, which frequently extends for miles together, and attended (to a certain latitude at least) by the whale, the shark, and other voracious enemies of these tribes, and accompanied by prodigious flights of sea-fowls:-Mr. Pennant supposes that millions of these herrings regain the Arctic Ocean, and deposit their spawn about the month of October. North of Russia, a vast gulf, called the White Sea, indents the upper part of this continent, and extends through several degrees of latitude to the south. It is also blocked up with ice during several months in the year; and much less visited since the commerce of Archangel, its prin cipal port, has been diverted to St. Petersburgh. It contains several islands. Following the northern shores of the Mediterranean and its adjacent seas, and thence proceeding through the Strait of Gibraltar to the Frozen Ocean, the following are the chief peninsulas of Europe, in the order in which they occur. 1. The Crimea, between the Black Sea and the Sea of Azof. 2. Greece, between the Archipelago and the Mediterranean. This portion of Europe is terminated by the Morea, the ancient Peloponnesus, which forms a second peninsula, connected with the former by the isthmus of Corinth. 3. Italy, between the Mediterranean Sea and the Gulf of Venice. 4. Spain and Portugal, comprehended by the Mediterranean, the Atlantic, and the Bay of Biscay. 5. Jutland, between the German Ocean and the Cattegat. 6. The country comprising Norway, Sweden, and Lapland, between the Baltic, the Cattegat, the North Sea, the Frozen Ocean, and the White Sea. This portion embraces the most northern point of Europe. The insular portions or appendages of Europe may be thus enumerated :-The Azores, situated about thirteen degrees west of Portugal, are the farthest from its shores. In the Mediterranean the Balearic and Pityuse Isles first present themselves, the principal of which are those of Majorca, Minorca and Ivica. Eastward are Corsica and Sardinia, with Elba, Sicily, Malta, and Goza. Opposite the western coast of Greece are Corfu, Cephalonia, and Zante; with Candia still further to the south. Amid the multiplicity of islands in the Archipelago, the principal are Negropont, Mytilene, Scio, Samos, Cos, and Rhodes; with Cyprus near the southern coast of Anatolia. Passing from the Mediterranean to the North Sea and the Baltic, we have the extensive islands of Great Britain and Ireland, and their numerous dependencies, the Hebrides, Orkneys, and Shetland Isles; with those of Jersey and Guernsey, near the coast of France. North-west of Shetland lie the Faroe Islands, and, still farther towards the Arctic circle, the large island of Iceland, the ultima Thule as it has been supposed of the ancients. The coast of Norway is furnished with numerous islands; the only cluster which here deserves notice, is the Loffoden Isles, situated between the polar circle and the seventieth degree of latitude. Beyond the northern extremity of Europe, and near the eastern entrance of the White Sea, is the Island of Colguef; still further to the east that of Waygait. The large islands of Nova Zembla are situated opposite the north-east coast of European Russia, and appear like a continuation of the Uralian Mountain range. Still further north, and locked up in the ice of the Arctic Ocean, lie the dreary and desolate islands of Spitzbergen, within ten degrees of the pole. Within the Baltic are the Islands of Funen, Zealand, and several smaller ones. Rugen, near the southern shore, Bornholm, north-east of this last, with Oland and Gothland, near the Swedish coast; Osel and Dago opposite the entrance of the Gulf of Finland; and Aland, with its attendant group, forming a belt across that of Bothnia. The next grand distinction of this, as of the other great portions of the globe, is into mountains and plains; the former being here sometimes detached, but more generally in groups or chains, resting on an elevated base. Mr. Jameson gives the following perspicuous view of the high and low lands of Europe : In Europe we find but two high lands and one low land. The one is the great European or Southern, the other the Scandinavian or Northern. The one has its middle point in Switzerland, in the Tyrol, and in the Alps of Savoy. Hence it passes through three-fourths of France, traverses the whole of Portugal and Spain, includes nearly two-thirds of Germany, passes through the greater part of Italy, and also part of Hungary and Turkey, and terminates on the borders of the Black Sea. The course of this high land determines that of the great low land. Saxony lies nearly on the border of this low land or plain. It passes through the north part of Saxony, to the east or Baltic Sea. It also passes by the foot of the Rocky Mountains, through the upper part of Westphalia, and further through the whole of Holland, the Netherlands, and a small part of France; it even reaches the east coast of this island. It extends very considerably towards the north, including in its course Prussia, Poland, and nearly all Russia in Europe, and reaches to the Uralian Mountains, including the, greater part of Moldavia. The other high land rises in Norway and Sweden, comprehends a portion of Russia, and extends with some interruption to the Uralian Moun tains. The two grand declivities, it will easily be conceived, are subdivided into others; and these form the basins of all the large European rivers. Again proceeding along the northern shores of the Mediterranean, we find 1. The Ebro, in the eastern part of the Spanish Peninsula. 2. The Rhone, which traverses the lake of Geneva, and falls into the Mediterranean. 3. The Po, discharging its waters into the gulf of Venice. The Italian Peninsula is intersected by the Appennines, by which its breadth is too muc contracted to allow of large rivers. 4. The Marissa, which falls into the Archipelago. Coasting the Black Sea along its northern shore, we meet with5. The Danube, 6. The Dniester, Considerable rivers, fall 7. The Dnieper, Sing into the Black Sea. 8. The Don, which terminates in the sea of Azof. 9. The Kuban, flowing into both the sea of Azof, and the Black Sea. 10. The Volga, terminating in the Caspian Sea. Between the straits of Gibraltar and the north of Europe, are— 11. The Guadalquiver,` Having their sources in the great western or Spanish Peninsula. Which empty themselves into the bay of Biscay. 17. The Seine, falling into the English Chan nel. 18. The Rhine, All terminating in the German Ocean. The mountains of the Northern Peninsula, between the Cattegat and the North Cape, are too near the shore to allow a course for any large rivers. The Frozen Ocean receives no extensive river between that cape and the gulf of Lapland, or White Sea. We now arrive at 21. The Dwina, which falls into the White Sea. 22. The Petshora, terminating in the Arctic Ocean. On entering the Baltic, we meet, along its southern coast, with23. The Oder, The two principal rivers 24. The Vistula, of the Prussian dominions. 25. The Memel, the upper part of which is called the Niemen. 26. The Duna, which falls into the gulf of Riga. 27. The Narva, Both entering the gulf of 28. The Neva, S Finland. These last have only a short course; the one connects the gulf of Finland with lake Peypus, the other, the same gulf with lake Ladoga; and both lakes receive rivers of considerable magnitude. In the northern part of the Baltic, are29. The Kemi, Having their rise in the 30. The Tornea, mountains of Lapland, and falling into the gulf of Bothnia. The Danube is the largest river that has its entire course in Europe. If we consider its length (about 1800 miles) to consist of 100 parts, the following will be the proportion of the other quitted the Grands Mulets at nine o'clock, and chief rivers of Europe. The Alps, as a distinct mountain range, have already engaged our attention at considerable length; see ALPS and BLANC, MOUNT. In the latter article we have given a sketch of the modern ascent of the mountain, (the highest in Europe), and concluded with the unsuccessful attempt of Mr. Domford and his friends to reach the summit in 1820. We have now the pleasure to add, that in 1822 an English gentleman, Mr. Clissold, accomplished this arduous task. The following account of his expedition appeared in the Bibliotheque Universelle of September in that year. 'Chamouny, August 27, 1822. SIR, You have probably heard of the success of my ascent of Mont Blanc, of which I shall communicate to you some particulars. I left Chamouny, where I remained fifteen days in expectation of settled weather, on Sunday, the 18th, at half past ten P. M., with six chosen guides, one of whom was provided with a lantern. Each of these guides carried a weight of twenty pounds in provisions and objects of precaution for the ascent. (Mr. Clissold, either with the design of trying his strength, or with the view of inspiring the guides with confidence, carried one of these loads during a considerable part of the ascent of the mountain De la Cote.) We ascended, as is usually done, by the mountain called De la Cote, and reached the summit of it at half past three in the morning. After a short halt, we entered, at four o'clock, on the Glacier; and, having crossed it without accident, reached, at half past seven, the rocks called the Grands Mulets, where preceding travellers have generally made arrangements for passing the night. My plan was different: I was ambitious to reach the summit the same day, and to remain there during the night, in order to see the day-break on the following morning. We, therefore, continued our march, the most difficult part of which was in the neighbourhood of these same rocks, where we had to climb obliquely up a very steep slope of ice, inclined about 45°, in which we were obliged to cut with a hatchet a number of steps, the missing of one of which would have been certain death; for this slope terminated at an enormous cleft. This passage was still worse when we came down again. We VOL. VIII. reached at two the Grand Plateau, near the Dôme du Gouté. We were in the regions of those masses of snow, which are formed into enormous parallelopipedons, called Seracs. Thence, ascending to the left, we from time to time proceeded along the edge of the clefts, one of which was perhaps the grave of the victims of 1820. All the guides, excepting P. M. Favret, and myself, were more or less incommoded by the rarefaction of the air. Three of them, in particular, who ascended Mont Blanc for the first time, lost their strength to such a degree that they considerably delayed our progress. If it had not been imprudent to separate, I should certainly have reached the summit before night. We arrived about seven in the evening at the Petit Mulet, a rock situated above the Rocher Rouge, the nearest to the top of all those that are seen from Chamouny. We had reached it at half past six. The Petit Mulet being higher, and to the left, is not visible from below. As we had not time to reach the summit before night, we descended again to the Roche Rouge, near which we made a pit in the snow, four feet deep, five broad, and six long, We placed at the bottom some pieces of wood, on which we spread a rather thin covering, on which we all which was by no means sufficiently large for the seven lay down, covered with a slight sheet, purpose. Some blasts of wind, which now and then blew into our faces some of the light snow drifted from the surface, was a bad omen of the fate that awaited us if the wind had risen. We slept, however, about four hours. We could not observe the thermometer for want of light; but the night was cold enough to produce ice in a bottle of Hermitage wine, and thoroughly to freeze some lemons among our provisions. The right foot of one of my guides (David Coutet) was frozen, and also the extremities of my own fingers and toes. But these accidents were attended with no bad consequences. We left our cold couch at four o'clock in the morning. The day was beginning to break, and the first rays of the dawn gave a silver tinge to the summits, from which we were not far distant. In proportion as the sun approached the horizon, the tint changed, and became entirely golden when he rose. It formed the most striking contrast with the nearly black color of the sky, from which it seemed to be detached. All the difficulties were now surmounted: we sunk but little in the snow, and now and then halted for a short time to take breath. We soon came to the Petit Mulet which we had visited the day before; and at half past five we were on the summit. We began by making the signals agreed on with our friends in the plain, who easily distinguished them. This summit is not so limited as it seems to be at a distance. It forms a small plain, nearly horizontal, about 200 feet fall; which is in the shape of a triangle, the base of which is towards Chamouny; one side is towards the Allée Blanche, and the other towards the passage of Bon-homme. It took me four minutes to walk along the perpendicular drawn from the apex of the triangle to the base. 2 X : The sky was without clouds; the sun, which vour to obtain it for him as soon as possible. I had risen below our horizon, deluged with light am much indebted to you for having procured the region from which it seemed to issue, and in me the acquaintance of M. De Saussure, and the direction of which we could distinguish the inspection of the shoes which his late father nothing. Every where else we perceived a vast wore at the time of his ascent. I got mine made number of summits, some covered with shining upon the very same plan, and they enabled me ice, others more or less rent and threatening to cross rapid the Glacier of Boissons, and to others, again, of roundish forms, and covered pass where the guides could not follow me. I with pasture. Jura bounded the horizon in the walked, indeed, with these shoes upon the hardnorth-west; more to the north we saw the lake, est ice, as if I had been upon the solid ground. but not Geneva. To the south-east the eye pe- These shoes have the soles sufficiently thick to netrated beyond the Plains of Lombardy, as far receive nails of steel, cut with a square point, as the Appennines, which bounded the horizon and the other end of which has a screw, which is in the form of a blue line, or of the dense fog of fixed in the leather, on which rests the bases of the a winter's morning. The sun, both at setting the pyramid, which forms the head of the nail. The preceding evening, and at rising in the morning, steel is tempered, and brought back to a straw seemed more or less enveloped in this vapor. I color, which leaves it almost all its hardness, and had brought no instrument with me but a ther- renders it less liable to break. mometer. At sun-set the day before, near the Rocher Rouge, it was at 26° Fahrenheit. We forgot to observe it when we set out in the morning; but Coutet, who is used to make observations at great heights, thinks that the cold exceeds 18° Fahrenheit. But on the summit at eight o'clock, at the Grands Mulets, the day before, at nine, and the Grand Plateau, the same day, at three; lastly, at the Grands Mulets the next day (Tuesday, about three in the afternoon); at all these stations the thermometer observed by Coutet, and one at four or five feet from the ground, stood at 70° Fahrenheit. 'During our stay on this singular belvedere, some of the guides picked up specimens of the highest rocks near the summit, which I brought along with me. After stopping three hours on the summit, where I felt myself very comfortable, except that I had lost my appetite since leaving the Grands Mulets, though the guides had preserved theirs, we set out for the purpose of descending. It was half-past eight o'clock. At eleven, we came to the Grand Plateau, and at half-past one to the Grands Mulets. When we arrived there, we heard something like the rolling of thunder, which was nothing but the noise of an enormous avalanche, which was seen, from the Col de Balme, to cover a part of the space which we had crossed in our descent. A few hours sooner, and we should have all been enveloped and destroyed. We quitted the Grands Mulets at three o'clock, and at half-past three were beyond the region of the ice. We arrived at the priory of Chamouny at half-past seven, after an absence of forty-five hours. We there heard that two English ladies, Mrs. and Miss Campbell, had passed the Col du Geant, two or three hours before we reached the Petit Mulet, and that while we were near that rock, they were descending at Cormayeur. They had left Chaumony on Sunday, and spent the night at the foot of the rocks of Tacul. In consequence of the ignorance of their guides, they met with more difficulties than I experienced. They are resolved to attempt, next year or the year following, the ascent of Mont Blanc. I owe so much of my success to Joseph Marie Coutet, that I wish to present him with a portable barometer, made by your excellent artist M. Gourdon, and I beg that you will endea "The following are the names of my guides: Joseph Marie Coutet, the chief; this was his sixth ascent. David Coutet, his brother; this was his fourth ascent. Pierre Marie Favret, the strongest of them all; this was his third ascent; his father formerly ascended with Saussure, Jacques Coutet, another brother of Joseph; J. Baptistė Simon; Matthieu Bossnett; this was their first ascent.' Note by Professor Pictet on the specimens from Mont Blanc.-Mr. Clissold has had the goodness to show us his specimens, and give us duplicates of the most interesting. No. 1 is the fragment of a rock in situ, nearest the summit that is the highest point in Europe. It is an amorphous rock, in which feldspar predominates, mixed with a little quartz. It is yellow here and there with oxide of iron. No. 2 is a specimen of those rocks with vitreous bubbles on the surface, which are commonly found on the Aiguille of Gouté, and of which Mr. Clissold has brought a great number from the summit of Mont Blanc. The one in question is composed of a mass of black amphibole (hornblende), almost pure, to which adheres a distinct crystal of feldspar. At the place where the two substances come in contact, are seen three or four globules of black glass, one of which is about a line and a half in diameter, and from this runs a slight groove, excavated out of the feldspar portion of the stone, and in which there are small globules of black glass, an effect which seems to confirm the opinion of those who attribute these fusions to lightning. No. 3 is a small specimen of the same kind of rock, but in which the feldspar is more disseminated. Two faces of the stone are wholly covered with microscopic vitreous globules, and one of its two faces, seen with a microscope, appears entirely covered with a varnish arising from fusion. No. 4 is a fragment of rock of the Grands Mulets, covered with small crystals of adularia, intermixed with amianthus. Mr. Clissold, we understand, means to deposit the greater part of the specimens in the British Museum, and in that of the Geological Society. The Carpathian and Sudetic chain, which with the Erzegebirge and Boehmerwald, may be considered as forming one continued Alpine range |